YBR acquires News Corp’s investment platform

Yellow Brick Road Holdings (YBR) has acquired a digital wealth management platform from News Corp, in a move it says falls in line with other digital plans.

The company said it acquired Brightday, a platform that allows self-directed investors to manage their own superannuation online. The acquisition is expected to provide YBR with an "important capability" for its digital strategy, the company said in a statement.

YBR executive chairman Mark Bouris said: "This acquisition is a key part of our direct and online strategy to be launched to consumers in FY17."

He added: "Brightday serves a similar customer segment to Yellow Brick Road. Our 2020 customer strategy ensures we can serve customers via the means and channel they prefer: many will prefer face-to-face support, which is why we will double our branch network by 2020, while others have a bias towards direct-digital product, and the majority will seek a blend of both.

"The acquisition of Brightday helps enable this."

According to the statement, investing in consumer-facing advertising during the last five years has built a "strong brand", which the company intends to leverage in the digital space.

Mr Bouris added that this awareness is already resulting in direct inquiries from many customers for insurance, as well as some funds management and superannuation product.

"This digital push is focused first and foremost on accelerating our wealth business growth. We want 30 per cent of our customers accessing our wealth services by 2020. Wealth is a real differentiator for us and a major focus over the next four years," he said.

"Giving customers superior digital access and tools for investments and superannuation is an important tactic in building our wealth volumes. We have already seen great engagement through Guru, our robo pre-advice tool. Brightday is the next enhancement."